Boston 2024: Quirky Sightings

 I told my brother I liked to see quirky things when visiting someplace new. And he obliged with the following sites in Boston:

While "Bell in Hand" claims to be the oldest tavern in America, I found there are others that are actually older. The original owner of this tavern was Boston's town crier for 50 years.

Cheers!  Norm!

Union Oyster House is the oldest restaurant in continuous service in the US (per the website).

I just happened to see this in the sidewalk in front of a restaurant in the North End.

This was in the previous post, but it's too cute not to mention again! Make Way for Ducklings!

This was also in the previous post, but from the opposite side. I couldn't tell what it was when I first saw it; it looked like another part of the body which should never be that big in a sculpture!

Local artists in Newton paint pianos for Artful Pianos. Businesses can sponsor one during the summer months. Passers-by can sit down and play.

And a couple of things in Cambridge:

Harvard Lampoon Building, built in 1909

The Ray and Maria Stata Center on MIT's campus houses the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Back in Boston, you wouldn't think that an art museum could be considered "quirky", but this one definitely is. A woman so obsessed with purchasing art following the death of her son, Isabella Stewart Gardner was a force to be reckoned with. She knew what she wanted and she knew how she wanted it displayed. So much so that upon her death, she bequeathed her home to the City of Boston with the stipulation that nothing be moved, removed, or added. 

She built a museum with living quarters on the 4th floor, using the Palazzo Barbaro as inspiration. 

The building itself is incredible, but then you find quirky things inside:

Nocturne: Blue and Silver-Battersea Reach by James McNeill Whistler. I thought this was just a painting with different shades of black, but it's actually a landscape.

The Horses of Anahita, or The Flight of Night (William Morris Hunt) 

An ostrich egg in an ostrich 

It is theorized that Isabella placed the foot sculpture to point to the picture of Mary holding Jesus' foot.

But maybe the quirkiest (or most fascinating) thing of all is that this museum is the site of the largest-value art heist in history. Thieves stole 13 pieces of art valued at $500 million in 1990 over a span of 81 minutes. The artwork has not been retrieved but the $10 million reward for information about the missing pieces is still active. Here's where the quirkiness comes in: The empty frames are in place where the artwork was. The thieves didn't take the frames; they cut some of the art from their frames, but others were taken out of the frame. To learn more, listen to The Last Seen Season 1 podcast (WBUR and Boston Globe, 2018).

A Vermeer (The Concert) was taken from this frame. Isabella outbid the Louvre to attain this piece of art.

2 Rembrandts were cut from their frames: a double portrait of a man and his wife (A Lady and Gentleman in Black) as well as the only landscape Rembrandt painted (Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee).

In the podcast, the reason for the empty frames was mentioned. Although many people think it's because of Isabella's stipulation (nothing is to be rearranged, taken away, or added to), it's actually used as a reminder of what happened. Hopes also remain that these items will be found and returned where they belong.

It's amazing how much she accumulated. Knowing what I know about the heist, I'd love to go back and dedicate a whole day to this museum. It could easily be done. One piece that wasn't taken was a self-portrait of Rembrandt. This painting is what inspired Isabella to begin her museum.

Walking through the museum, looking at the artwork, and recognizing some names, I mentioned that I really wish I paid more attention to Art History in my college days. Going back to this museum is worth another visit to Boston.